The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 14 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Snyder: Kickstarter success depends on text structure rather than idea quality
“The quality of your idea doesn't matter just looking at the content aspects we could predict.”
Snyder: 'Abrasive' appeared in 17 female performance reviews, zero male reviews
“The word abrasive, which has been talked about since then ended up, you know, being used in 17 out of a couple hundred women's reviews and zero times in, in men's reviews, right?”
Snyder: Textio predicted Kickstarter fundraising success with over 90% accuracy
“We got over 90% predictive on minute zero of a project as to whether it was going to hit its fundraising goal based solely on things like how long is the text and what kind of fonts are you using and how many headings do you have.”
Snyder: "Fast-paced environment" in job listings statistically reduces female applicants
“So the difference between fast-paced environment and rapidly moving environment, it's almost head-scratchingly tiny, but statistically, one of them draws many fewer women to apply.”
Snyder: Kickstarter campaigns succeed when formatted like a "ransom note"
“You want it to look like a ransom note, so you want to mix and match types. You want lots and lots of headings.”
Snyder: Longer project descriptions perform better on Kickstarter
“Longer is better where Kickstarter is is concerned kind of counterintuitive.”
Snyder: Mentioning off-street parking harms higher-priced home listings
“So we saw when we were prototyping out the real estate stuff that if you say off street parking that really moves the needle for low income homes, but for high income homes in terms of the number of people who go to your open house and then the eventual sale p…”
Snyder: Textio identified 25,000 job description phrases affecting recruiting outcomes
“In jobs, it matters hugely. You know, we, we've identified at this point over 25,000 unique phrases that move the needle on how many people will apply for your job, what demographics, how qualified they are.”
Snyder: "Big data" in job posts lost its positive impact by 2015
“So my favorite example of this is the phrase big data. So a year and a half ago, if you use the phrase big data in a tech job listing, it was positive. You know, it was seen as compelling and cutting edge. In June of 2015, it's not negative, but it's totally n…”
Snyder: The word "synergy" torpedoes job listing candidate response rates
“The biggest, you know, the, one of the very common, we call it a gateway term that kind of torpedoes your listing is the word synergy. But it's a gateway term because when people include synergy, they're also significantly more likely to include, you know, val…”
Snyder: Text is the single largest output produced by any business
“In businesses, whatever your business is, text is actually the thing you produce the most of.”
Snyder: Tech Resumes Show Systematic Gender Differences in Formatting
“Women's resumes tended to tell a story. They were written in prose. They didn't use bullets nearly as much. They included executive summaries. They included detailed statements of their Personal interests that were twice as long as what men tended to include. …”
Snyder: Overused language optimization patterns lose effectiveness, forcing marketing innovation
“If everybody tries to glom onto the same patterns, they're no longer effective. Someone is gonna figure out, as with any marketer, someone is gonna figure out how to do it better, and they're gonna introduce the next Pattern for success.”